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Bruce Springsteen Reveals Depression - And Gives Us Permission To Talk About It Too

Always a hero to his fans, Bruce Springsteen this week became a hero to those struggling with depression.

Thank you, Bruce Springsteen. You’ve been the ultimate musical hero to millions of music lovers, and a populist hero to work-a-day Americans, whose dreams, needs, and concerns you’ve given voice to in songs that speak to every generation.

Now you’re a hero for a different reason; you’ve got us talking about depression. Not just the “I’m depressed today” kind of depression, but the kind that locks you in a dark closet of isolation and despair and doesn’t let you out.

Springteen spoke out about depression to David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, in an epic 15,000-word feature that has Remnick shadowing Springsteen for months, engaging in deeply intimate conversations along the way. Remnick spoke with Springsteen’s wife, singer Patti Scialfa, and his bandmates, as well as the 62-year-old rock star himself.

So why am I jumping on the bandwagon and adding yet another voice to the coverage? Because when the Boss talks about struggling with suicidal thoughts, a painful childhood, a family history of mental illness, and a decades-long struggle with clinical depression, it opens doors. Doors to a discussion that for some reason America is still having trouble having.

Honestly, at this point I don’t know why depression is still something we hide. But it is. And so are other types of mental illness, some more “acceptable” to admit to than others, but all considered something shameful, rarely to be discussed with friends, neighbors, coworkers. (And don’t even mention prospective employers. Let’s be honest, many of us seek mental health treatment privately – despite the fact that we have insurance to pay for it — because we don’t want there to be any chance our workplace could find out.)

And it’s too bad, because depression — and its dark stepchild, suicide — desperately needs to be talked about. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 1 in 10 Americans has diagnosable depression, and six percent of the population reported being treated for a major depressive episode in the past 12 months.

Today, suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds. Did you know that? Almost no one does, it seems. Even in communities like mine, where teen suicide tragedies have made headlines every year for the past five years, the subject is met with hushed comments and quick changes of subject.

Then there’s the difficult subject of other mental illnesses – and Bruce took that on. too. He told Remnick his father was bipolar, but frequently discontinued taking medication, leading him subject to episodes of rage that were very frightening for Springsteen as a young boy.

At the time Born in the USA made Bruce Springsteen an international star, he was struggling with severe depression.

If you don’t think I’m right in saying our society still stigmatizes mood disorders and other types of mental illness, look at the kinds of personal challenges we regularly share, and those we don’t.

For example, in a recent support group I attended, women suffering from eating disorders discussed how they’re more comfortable telling friends and schoolmates that they’ve been hospitalized for anorexia or bulimia than for bipolar disorder or depression. (And yes, in case you can’t tell, I’m owning up to my own family tree which includes depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders and anxiety disorders.)

If you don’t believe me, ask those who’ve been “5150-ed” for suicidal thinking or a suicide attempt whether they’ve told friends about the incident, or lied about where they were.

Another thing that distinguishes Springsteen’s admission from the routine celebrity drama of the week is that he’s a man. And while women are often at least somewhat public about depression (i.e. Brooke Shields) , men are not.

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Yes, Thanks Bruce, While I am not a huge fan musically or politically, depression doesn’t discriminate and can without warning. As a former world class athlete, one who was taught for the most part to “Get Tough,Its All In Your Head”. While that approach sometimes works to achieve, it doesn’t apply when you can’t get off the couch or for that matter can’t understand why you can’t get off the couch, especially when lying or sitting down wasn’t even in your vocabulary when you were of sound mental health. Again, Thank you Bruce, as well Melanie, for sharing something that so many people are frightened to talk about. TA

Terry, I appreciate your sharing your story. Depression is so much more than sadness or feeling low, which is the misperception of many. It can affect every aspect of your life and distort how you see yourself and how you see the world. Congratulations to you for seeking treatment and talking about it.

Anytime someone high profile discusses their battle with mental illness, I hope it reduces the stigma just a little bit more. I don’t think it will ever go away. I feel like people are afraid that you are going to snap and shoot up a Walmart. Either that, or they just flat out don’t believe you. The last employer I had was convinced I was using depression as an excuse. Or there are the people who think you aren’t trying hard enough, or praying hard enough etc. It’s a horrible life. You start listening to those people long enough, and you start to wonder if they are right. Thank you, Bruce, for bringing some more much needed attention to an illness who some people mock or are skeptical that it exists. Those of us with depression and anxiety disorders need all the accurate information out there for the general public.

I’m so glad you said this, Heather; it’s true that nothing focuses a spotlight on an issue like a much-admired celebrity talking about it. Bruce has always come across as a deeply moral and committed person, but also a private one who has protected his family from publicity. I’m sure he thought long and hard about the consequences of discussing this publicly (such as it embarrassing his four children) and decided the public service outweighed any risks. His doing this just increases my admiration for him.

(tl;dr?) Actually, probably the only other time mental illness is discussed publicly is when someone DOES “shoot up a Walmart,” or in this case a movie theater, as was recently the case in Colorado. The shooter, James Holmes, an obviously troubled but brilliant neuroscience major, has been speculated to have everything from schizophrenia to high functioning autism to bipolar disorder to (as some commentators have put it, including “main-street” pundits) “right-wing trigger finger.” Then you have people who say it would have been better had he turned the gun the other direction or “hanged himself in the Bat Cave.”

None of this, of course, does anything to further the discussion of what could’ve been done to intervene and get this young man some much-needed help. He obviously had preexisting problems that were likely exacerbated by the dire job prospects for college graduates, and the extreme pressures of university — especially a doctorate program. Then you have people who say whatever he was going through wasn’t “valid” because the woes of college are “first-world problems,” that the struggling graduates need to buck up and shut up and quit “whining” about having to work at McDonald’s because “hey, there is famine in Africa, and people would be damn glad to be served a burger where there is no food.” People are suffering no matter how or where one looks at it, and this fellow Holmes was no exception.

The people affected by the shootings should not feel ashamed either to seek counseling, but without getting overly political, Colorado is an almost entirely Republican state, and there is a flaw in the conservative mindset that still tends to teach that mental illness is the person’s own fault for not “getting right with God.” It’s a tragedy that people who aren’t going through enough of a living hell are told they have no one to blame but themselves, and that they are being punished for their “sins,” for which they are damned to eternity unless they “repent.”

Fred Phelps’ idiotic hate group has already been PROTESTING (!) memorial services and saying that these people incurred divine wrath and brought the tragedy on THEMSELVES (!) basically for going to, and bringing their kids to, an “evil” Hollywood movie about a “dark knight” at the witching hour when they should have been at home reading the Good Book. I’m inclined to think that God, if there is one, must hate Fred Phelps. But I wouldn’t doubt that Bruce has some choice words to describe the so-called holy man, and probably four-letter ones at that.

I commend Bruce for opening up this discussion, and I have to say too that my mood is lifted when any of his songs come on the radio or I play in the stereo. I saw the Boss at Fenway Park some years back and I have to say that maybe, just maybe, a little darkness on the edge of the Monster was just what the town needed to bring a feeling of championship into the light. Now with Clarence gone, I can only think that the horns section on high must have needed a deep-voiced soul man with a baritone sax, and the big man upstairs brought the Big Man upstairs. I’m reminded of the angel of same name in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and Clemons’ duet with Jackson Browne, “You’re a Friend of Mine.” Because for Bruce, and for everyone who has been to an E Street tent revival, every man is a Boss who has friends… in high places. :)

What a fascinating way to pull all these recent events together. I too have been following the coverage of the Colorado shooting massacre wondering why it hasn’t prompted a saner and more compassionate discussion of mental illness, and of the responsibility of therapists to bring a safety or security threat to the attention of authorities if it becomes apparent during treatment that a patient puts public safety at risk.

It is so affirming when actors, musicians, newsmen, ect. Open up about depression or any mental condition. I read the book Darkness Visible by William Styron in the early 1990′s. It was his amazing story of the deep depression he went through. His description was so real that I shared it with my husband and some family members because I knew it would help them understand the depths of hell I had gone through. Mr. Styron was good friends with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes who also “came out” with his own admission of depression! I wanted to tell everybody “Hey look Mike Wallace went through this and is not embarrassed or ashamed to admit it!”. There have been some other famous people, Like Brooke Shields, Carrie Fisher, Jane Pauley and more recently Catherine Zeta Jones, these are just a few who have been brave enough to share their stories. When I read about Bruce Springsteen I couldn’t imagine – think about it – what an amazing job he did of “hiding it”! The story he conveyed about his father coming home drunk and terrorizing Bruce and his family hit me like a brick! I immediately flashed to similar scenes from my childhood. What he said about it staying with you is so true. It was more affirming to hear that from him then it was to hear it from doctors, family or friends. I don’t know why it is but well known people carry a lot of weight and validity to this disease. I appreciate him sharing this part of himself with us so much and feel for him for what he went through. I’m so glad that he is happy and healthy and especially content in his life now.

Thanks for remind me about Darkness Visible; that’s one of the best accounts I’ve ever read of what it’s like inside the mind during a severe depressive episode. Because Bruce Springsteen’s audience is so enormous and cuts across all demographic groups, I hope his story can an even wider readership.

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